


A weirdo like me

by Smart_heart



Series: Between the pages [1]
Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, First Meet, Sketchbook ship, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 22:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16543346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smart_heart/pseuds/Smart_heart
Summary: How I imagine Johanna met the Librarian. First part of a librarian x Johanna series!





	A weirdo like me

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is really short, but there’s a LOT more to come!

It was probably the best book she’d read in a while, she had to admit.

Tales of romance had never held much of Maven’s interest, the librarian always having favored tales of magic and adventure over emotional drama, of heroes and villains over lovers. But this one had something she did appreciate in a book, and that most romances didn’t have:

It had substance. A plot. And most of all, it presented the reader with something to learn from the story. 

Her eyes danced avidly across the pages as she read the tale of the outcast who had been shunned by her new village, simply because of being who she was, to find an unbelievably strong bond with a fair maiden just as odd as her. She had found this book just this morning, in a corner of the library she had never given much attention. She hadn’t taken her eyes out of it since then.

The bell of the café’s door jingled above her head as she entered. “The Poet’s retreat”, as it was called, was her favorite spot to have a coffee between her shifts at the library. More than once she had asked the town hall to allow a coffee machine at her working space, and more than once they had refused. But she didn’t complain. The calm, softly lit café would do.

She was admiring the beautiful use of adjectives the author had made when she collapsed against something and felt a burning sensation on her chest. Maven shrieked, and rose the book above her head, in an attempt to protect her newly found treasure from whatever had just hit her.

But as soon as she took her eyes off the book, she realized it wasn’t a _whatever_ , but a _whoever_. Short chestnut curls met a red sweater, and her brown eyes were wide with alarm, her mouth covered by her hands.

When she looked down, Maven realized where the burning sensation was coming from. Coffee. Wonderful.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” The lady who had spilled the beverage on her apologized. “I- I can’t believe this! Oh, I’m really sorry, I mean, you were the one reading and I was the one who bumped into you, are you all right? And the book, it-“

“Madam, it’s fine.” Maven put her hands in front of her in a gesture of surrender, trying to calm down he woman, who had began speaking so fast she couldn’t even understand. “I have a change of clothes in my workplace” she lied, knowing fully well what would happen is she would use a cleaning spell on her grey cardigan, and maybe on her shirt too, she didn’t know how deep was the damage.

The woman before her took a deep breath, realizing she had lost it for a moment. “I’m very glad to hear that. Will you at least lay me pay you a coffee, then? I need to get myself another one, anyway.”

Maven thought it through for a moment. On one hand, she had always preferred the serenity of being by herself to the chatter of a stranger. On the other hand, who was she to refuse free coffee? Her book could wait a little, she decided.

“I suppose I will.” She answered with a small smile on the corner of her lips, and the woman replied with a stunning one of her own. “I’m Johanna, by the way.”

The librarian quirked an eyebrow, and tried the name on her mouth. It rolled pleasantly off her tongue, leaving a sweet taste. Sweet as her aura, she realized as she focused on the welcoming pink light she could see surrounding the woman if she concentrated. A trustworthy person, then. Being a witch had it’s perks.

“Maven” she offered the name as well as the hand that wasn’t holding the book for the stranger to take. Johanna’s warm skin contrasted with Maven’s cold one, sending a small shriver down both of their spines.

“Nice to meet you. You can seat down somewhere if you like, I’ll go get it”

On that note, Johanna went back into the short queue for the cashier and Maven headed to a small, secluded table on the darker part of the café, where she usually seated. When she had settled down, she opened her book on the page she had left off, realizing with relief that it hadn’t been damaged. Sweet stranger or rude stranger, if you messed with her books you were on Maven’s enemy list forever.

“What are you reading?” Johanna asked when she appeared at the table out of the blue, making the librarian jump.

“Nothing” the raven haired woman answered, as “ a romance about lesbian witches” didn’t seem like the right answer to start a conversation.

“So, Maven, I think I’ve seen you before, but I can’t put my finger on it” The older woman said as she slided a cup of coffee to her and Maven rested the book on her tights, away from prying eyes.

“The library?” Maven suggested, now remembering seeing the woman. On the arts section, if she wasn’t mistaken.

“Oh yes, the library!” Johanna snapped her fingers as she remembered. “You’re the librarian!”

“Indeed” Maven snickered into her cup as the bitter hot liquid flooded her senses. Her mother had always taught her to enjoy tea, the beverage being so handy in witchcraft, but she could never say she liked it over coffee without lying.

“Oh it must be amazing! Nowadays it is so hard for someone to work with what the love! I’m a graphic designer, see, and since I’ve moved back into town, I haven’t been able to get a job.” She finished the sentence less upbeat than she had began, and Maven felt a streak of sympathy towards her.

“The world works in a system. Society is a machine. And they’re both designed to kill artists. It’s not easy being such a real thing in such a fake world.” Johanna looked at the young woman in the eye, wonder written on the designer’s face. “This world is filled with people who destroy. You should be proud of yourself to be someone who creates. Job or not.”

Johanna sighed and let out a small laugh. “That’s... well that’s beautiful. I’m glad someone shares my thoughts.” The designer took a sip of her coffee and stared outside trough the nearly transparent curtains over the café’s window. “People usually say I’m a weirdo because I think like that”.

 _So, another misfit_ , Maven though. She was growing fonder of the woman by the minute. “Don’t let them get you down. No-one ever made any difference by being like everyone else.”

Once again, Johanna smiled, and the dark table seemed to light up. “You have pretty words, don’t you, Maven?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. P. T. Barnum did.”

Johanna’s head tilted slightly, the smile lingering on her lips. “Well, I’m not sure about other people’s lives, but in my life I can make a difference.”

“How so?” 

“I have a job interview today. I’m hoping to get a good job, at least good enough to leave the department store I’m working at.” Johanna whispered in a conspiratorial way, as if sharing a secret. 

“What time is the interview?” Maven asked, looking at the wall clock across the café.

“Um, half past five, why?”

“If I were you, I’d stop talking to me right now” Johanna narrowed her eyes, thinking the conversation was being quite interesting, and wondering if she had somehow offended the new friend. “You’re five minutes late.”

Johanna’s eyes widened and she got up abruptly, nearly spilling coffee from her paper cup, and looked at her watch. “Gods, you’re right! It was nice to meet you, Maven!” 

The last words were practically shouted, as she was already at the door when she said them. Maven shook her head fondly. “I can say the same, Johanna”, she whispered.

The librarian put her book on the table once again, making sure her cup was out of the reach of her elbows to prevent a catastrophe, but she couldn’t bring herself to pay attention to the flowered language or detailed descriptions of a magical, far away land and the two women who dared defy its rules.

Not when every time the main character spoke she heard Johanna’s voice.

Not when every time her lover spoke, she heard her own

.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Do you like it? What do you want to see in the future?


End file.
